Rode through into brilliant sunshine.
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| View from downtown Biloxi |
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| Welcoming Committee |
Hwy 90 through Biloxi, right through to New Orleans (with a few short exceptions) is a very nice ride. Particulary on a warm, early November day when the afternoon sun is glimmering off the ocean, and John Legend is playing on your iPod.
Coincidentally, the theme song for the trip is now "Live It Up"
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| Veggie burritos |
Dinner this evening was at Juan's
I had a veggie burrito tonight -- with broccoli in it! That should count as a salad, right?
I'll be staying at Shawn Escoffrey's place for a couple nights..
Been here before, saw the usual tourist sites and sights ... stayed in a boutique hotel with a quaint courtyard right in the French Quarter, drank a beer walking down Bourbon Street, saw some great jazz (loved the Preservation Hall Jazz Band), visited above-ground cemeteries, spoke with a voodoo priestess, caught some awesome busker shows, toured the Garden District, had coffee and beignets for breakfast. I did all that the last time I was here, back in 2000.
This trip, there was only one place I really wanted to see -- the Lower 9th Ward.
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, I had to see one of the hardest hit areas for myself.
Here's a link to an amazing Flash presentation (sorry, no iPhone/iPad version) which gives a timeline for the terrible events..
Getting across the city to the 9th Ward involved 2 of my least favourite parts of motorcycling -- battling traffic on an Interstate highway, and riding across a grooved metal drawbridge. You know the kind where the metal is spaced apart the exact amount necessary to cause me to resort to using Jedi mind tricks to keep the bike in a more-or-less straight line.
The Upper 9th Ward, on the downtown side of the Industrial Canal, did flood as well, but not to the same extent as the Lower.
I can hardly find the correct words to describe the area. On almost every street in the area, there were homes abandoned after the storm. The markers painted on the doors and walls by the search and rescue teams are still visible in hundreds of places.
What struck me as most odd, is the relative emptiness of the area.
After touring the area on my own for an hour, I went back to Shawn's house to chat about it.
I mentioned "You can certainly see they had many issues before the storm -- with all the empty lots and wild areas"
Shawn set me straight -- before Katrina, the Lower 9th Ward was a densely packed area. There were no empty lots. No abandoned homes. And certainly no mini-urban forest growing there.
I tried to shoot some video of the area, but sadly I had the camera aimed badly. In any case, I'm posting the result in hope that you can get some sense of what the area is like right now.
Shawn's friend Nadria Frazier dropped by to talk photography. The topic of Katrina came up. She survived during the storm and agreed to tell us her story ...
Everyone who was there has a story to tell. Many just need someone to listen.
Been here before, saw the usual tourist sites and sights ... stayed in a boutique hotel with a quaint courtyard right in the French Quarter, drank a beer walking down Bourbon Street, saw some great jazz (loved the Preservation Hall Jazz Band), visited above-ground cemeteries, spoke with a voodoo priestess, caught some awesome busker shows, toured the Garden District, had coffee and beignets for breakfast. I did all that the last time I was here, back in 2000.
This trip, there was only one place I really wanted to see -- the Lower 9th Ward.
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, I had to see one of the hardest hit areas for myself.
Here's a link to an amazing Flash presentation (sorry, no iPhone/iPad version) which gives a timeline for the terrible events..
Getting across the city to the 9th Ward involved 2 of my least favourite parts of motorcycling -- battling traffic on an Interstate highway, and riding across a grooved metal drawbridge. You know the kind where the metal is spaced apart the exact amount necessary to cause me to resort to using Jedi mind tricks to keep the bike in a more-or-less straight line.
The Upper 9th Ward, on the downtown side of the Industrial Canal, did flood as well, but not to the same extent as the Lower.
I can hardly find the correct words to describe the area. On almost every street in the area, there were homes abandoned after the storm. The markers painted on the doors and walls by the search and rescue teams are still visible in hundreds of places.
What struck me as most odd, is the relative emptiness of the area.
After touring the area on my own for an hour, I went back to Shawn's house to chat about it.
I mentioned "You can certainly see they had many issues before the storm -- with all the empty lots and wild areas"
Shawn set me straight -- before Katrina, the Lower 9th Ward was a densely packed area. There were no empty lots. No abandoned homes. And certainly no mini-urban forest growing there.I tried to shoot some video of the area, but sadly I had the camera aimed badly. In any case, I'm posting the result in hope that you can get some sense of what the area is like right now.
Shawn's friend Nadria Frazier dropped by to talk photography. The topic of Katrina came up. She survived during the storm and agreed to tell us her story ...
Everyone who was there has a story to tell. Many just need someone to listen.
Wow. It still blows my mind that a country so rich would be so slow or, if I may... would abandon their people. Would leave them, already struggling with disaster, to fend so hard for themselves.
ReplyDeleteKudo's to the people.